Sarah McGaughy. Communication: Print and Digital Journalism or Broadcast and Digital Journalism

My name is Sarah McGaughy, and I am a junior at Mississippi State University. My interest in broadcasting and digital journalism came from my love of writing, and the curiosity of how things work behind the scenes of filmmaking. Around the same time that I was finishing nearly two years of TV and Film acting classes, I was recommended and joined my high school's news team. From there I learned a few basic skills. Going on a field trip to PBS Broadcasting and a local news station in Jackson, how to shoot b-roll, how to interview students, anchoring, and how to read a teleprompter. A tour of Mississippi State's Library (specifically the Digital Media Center) and a Fall Friday visit helped me determine where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to do.

Inside Edition also played a big role in both my love for broadcasting and digital journalism, and picking it as my concentration. They have a live feed, but they also post each individual segment on YouTube. So everyday for years I would go on Youtube and watch Inside Edition's news. I loved the undercover stories, or larger videos that had a combintionf of related stories. I do not watch it as much anymore but if i ever need a story for an assignment, I will go watch the videos again. That is another thing that I love about Journalism. That no matter how old or new a story is, it can still be good at any time.

 

Communications with a concentration in broadcasting and digital journalism best fit what I wanted to do because it gives me the oppurtunity to learn all of the main skills (video, photography, writing, etc) on a much deepter level. I love how in one class I could be writing a headline for breaking news, and in others I am editing a VOSOTVO that I put together by myself. It is also a major and concentration that has allowed me to make good friends with my classmates because of how small the classes become the deeper a person gets into college. There is also a significant amount of group projects, so it helps mimic working at a News Station and other areas that involve broadcasting with other people. It also allows me to still engage with other communications students in other concentrations who I can learn tips and tricks through classes I might now be taking. It also opens doors for experiences outside of the classroom.

The top project that I have worked on for my major and concentration is the 15-minute broadcast for Advanced TV Production (TV2). It was the most hands-on project I got to be apart of in all of my classes. Not just for my group's broadcast, but for the other groups as well. My job was audio, and then I worked as a camera operator for the other group in my class. Even though the project started out as stressful and there were a lot of nerves, my group was vert encouraging to each other, and we even went out to dinner afterwards to celebrate our grade. I also got to shoot the other group's 15-minute broadcast for my photo essay for my photographic communications essay and got some very cool candid shots.

Another project that was really fun and ties with the 15-minute broadcast project is the music video my classmates and I created in Creative Services Video Production for a local Mississippi Artist. The artist, Naomi Taylor, won a local Mississippi competition, and part of the prize was that my class got to make her music video. Each week we got a new assignment that helped piece together the video. Some of the weeks we presented our work to each other and gave feedback to help improve it. Eventually over the course of two days we filmed Naomi Taylor and her band at Rick's Cafe and around Starkville. And on the days of filming, we each had our own job. Then we edited our videos and presented them to each other. It was a very fun experience and westill do not know who's video she picked.

Picking a favorite out of photography, video, and writing is hard for me because I honestly love all of it. I love the technique and different ideas a person can play around with in photography, I love the action and adrenaline that doing video gives me, and I love writng a story that fits together perfectly. Each one has its own element that makes me very happy and gives me a seretonin boost. Because of how frequently I have been doing video, I would say right now that is my favorite. Working with ESPN, Ming Entertainment, and Hail State Productions has given me the chance to do video in a sports setting, and it is such a rush. I get to be up close in whatever sport is going on and it a seprate way I am apart of it.

What I hope to gain from Multimedia Journalism is to expand my knowledge in coding for websites and putting together stories and different media formats. In earlier classes, we learn how to write shorter stories that require a lot of information being crammed into two sentences. Whereas through this class, those stories can expand. Even add photo and or video to the story to add color. Since there are also group projects, it also gives the opportunity to expand our skills in working together through different aspects other than video and broadcasting such as writing and coding.

Career plans for me have been all over the place. I originally came to school wanting to be an on-air talent like Lisa Geurrero, since that was what I had the most experience with from my high school's news team. Then I realized in the one time that I had to make my camera debut for a class project, that it was fun but I just did not have the confidence for it to do it constantly. So those plans to be a talent quickly switched to behind the scenes, hopefully in a mix of writing and broadcasting. Working with audio had become a favorite of mine when working on the 15-minute broadcasting project. Then in the fall semster of 2023, I got the opportunity to work with Ming Entertainment and ESPN at two football games foir the University of Mississippi.

This allowed me to discover the adrenaline rish I got from live video and broadcasting in sports. It allows me to still be in the field and apart of all the action, without having to talk live on camera. Through a classmate I got connected with Hail State Productions, and I got to be on the court for the men's basketball game recently. I got to shadow and even operate one of the camera for the second half. It helped me realize that behind-the-scenes work is something that I want to do, but more in a sports broadcasting setting. Because that way I can still be apart of the action, and jobs in the control room are also apart of a news station.

The plan after college has always been the same though: start out in local news at a station. Through working the two football games with ESPN and Ming Entertainment I got to ask some of the long-term staff a few questions about how they got started and how they got to where they are today. All three people that I asked said the same thing: that they started out at a local news station. They did their jobs within it and gradually moved up. Then took on the job they are currently working in. So because of that, going to a news station is the plan after college.

Email me at skm473@msstate.edu with any questions